U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by 2017: White House

That means you won't finish the job, Barack. You need to solve this before you leave office (assuming you win reelection). Don't be a loser like Bush.

in reference to:

"The United States will not be in Afghanistan eight years from now, the White House said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama prepared to explain to Americans next week why he is expanding the war effort. After months of deliberation and fending off Republican charges that he was dithering on Afghanistan while violence there surged, Obama will address the nation on Tuesday on the way forward in the costly and unpopular eight-year war. He is expected to announce he is sending about 30,000 more troops as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy that will place greater emphasis on accelerating the training of Afghan security forces so that U.S. soldiers can eventually withdraw. It appears highly unlikely Obama will offer a specific troop withdrawal timetable, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president would stress that the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was not open-ended."
- U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by 2017: White House | Politics | Reuters (view on Google Sidewiki)

State-run magazine reports on black jails in China

This is hopeful for China eventually becoming a democracy. A little freedom could bring the whole totalitarian regime down. Just as it did in Russia. But then again, Russia did not have a booming economy. Bottomline: it's a long way to go. Meantime, China continues to be a horrific regime.

in reference to:

"It read like a muckraking expose: A magazine revealed a system of secret detention centers in Beijing where Chinese citizens are forcibly held and sometimes beaten to prevent them from lodging formal complaints with the central government.But the report appeared in the state-run magazine Liaowang (Outlook), which is written for the government elite and published by China's official Xinhua News Agency.For some activist groups, the two state-sanctioned articles published Tuesday signal a possible willingness by the Communist leadership to openly acknowledge a problem it has long denied."
- Newsvine - State-run magazine reports on black jails in China (view on Google Sidewiki)

Transcript: THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW (11-24-09)

Excerpt below. Click link for complete transcript.

in reference to:

"Tonight, a small group of senators in the Democratic Caucus are reaffirming their commitment to killing the Senate health care reform bill, if it includes a public option. The most vocal among them is Senator Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut, who is now repeating his threat to block any bill that includes any version of a public option.With the Senate now less than a week away from debating health care reform, Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, now has a choice, stand firm on the public option or compromise it to get something passed. Those on the compromise side argue that we should just let the bill pass without a public option so we can get all of the good insurance reform that`s in the bill. But, there`s a dirty little secret about this -- the insurance reform is gone.In order to have insurance reform, you need two things. The first is making sure insurance companies can`t turn you down for any medical reason. That`s called guaranteed issue -- and that`s in the bill. But that`s only effective if you make sure that the coverage is affordable. And that`s not in the bill. As the bill is written now, the insurance companies will still be allowed to gouge their customers if they have illnesses to charge you two or three times what your neighbor gets charged.A lot of the insurance reform in this bill is gone. The only real reform that`s left is the public option. If that`s compromised away, this bill is no longer health care reform. It`s just a huge gift to the health insurance industry from the same people who bailed AIG out, the American taxpayers.Instead of ruining the bill by taking out the public option, why not just do the fair thing? If there are four senators who won`t let us pass the bill with a public option, we have a mechanism to pass it, anyway -- through the budget reconciliation process.If you do that, you only need 51 votes to pass it, which exist in the Senate, instead of 60, just a simple majority. That`s how most democracies work. That`s what we should have done in the beginning. And that`s what Democrats ought to do right now."
- LexisNexis News - Latest News from over 4,000 sources, including newspapers, tv transcripts, wire services, magazines, journals. (view on Google Sidewiki)

UK: NATO to offer 5,000 troops for Afghanistan

That's more than enough. Yea, right.

in reference to:

"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says 10 NATO nations are ready to offer about 5,000 more troops for the war in Afghanistan."
- UK: NATO to offer 5,000 troops for Afghanistan - Yahoo! News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Congressmman John Boehner PAC splurges on golf

"According to FEC filings, the House Minority Leader John Boehner has spent $82,998 on golf outings so far this year "

- Time for Real Change: http://Termlim.com

in reference to:

"According to FEC filings, the House Minority Leader John Boehner has spent $82,998 on golf outings so far this year"
- Wedge issue: John Boehner PAC splurges on golf - Jake Sherman - POLITICO.com (view on Google Sidewiki)